SHONA’S TRI-TRAINING BLOG – 19TH MAY

2 days to race day….*panic!!!

Again, I am awake early! I lie in the peace and quiet for a bit and then get up and be a bit noisy to wake Ian up so he can join me for a swim! We get our wetsuits down and head out and across the road to the beach and join lots of other wetsuit clad people for a morning swim! 1km ticked off nicely! Last swim before IM done! We then head back and I head straight to make breakfast, which I eat in my wetsuit, whilst Ian showers and dresses to have his in a much more civilised manner. I also forgot to mention…OPI text last night and has told me to carb load! I have permission to eat loads today and tomorrow, including PIZZA!!!! I am so happy right now! I would only be happier if cake was also allowed but I can wait until Sunday for that! I am required to drink a large carton of fruit juice each day and I need to eat a whole pizza to myself on Friday! I can do this!!

Today we are going to go exploring. Mark makes sandwiches and we pack up a picnic, I load up my drinks bottle and we head off to hire a car! We are soon sorted with an Opel Combo and so I can drive us out along the IM bike course. First we have to stop off at the apartment (mostly so Lisa can have a wee) but also to collect my passport (the car hire man suggested I should take it whilst driving as my driving licence will not be accepted as an official document. I don’t know if he has been tipped off about my driving or something??!!) As there is nowhere to park, Lisa and Mark hop out and I drive a loop of the one-way circuit to give them time and so I don’t block the road. I head back around to the apartment and me and Ian are both surprised to see Lisa and Mark waiting for us! There speed of getting down to the apartment and back in such a short time was very impressive! Until we pull up and they open the door and ask us for the apartment key!! Doh!!! Seeing the window of opportunity, I take advantage and demolish my sandwich(it doesn’t take long!)

Soon we are away and driving, we stop off at El Golfo as the views are nice and then continue on until we get to La Santa. I have drunk that much at this point that I am bursting for a wee….the speed bumps on the way in were not helpful! We then head to the supermarket there so I can get some fruit juice and another snack! The support crew are in the bakery section picking up treats whilst I get a 1.5 litre of tropical fruit juice, 2 nectarines and some rice cakes (sadly there was no rice pudding!!) I then start the fruit juice challenge. I head to the race briefing at 3pm….that has increased the nerve level! Turns out whilst I was in there, the support crew had their lunch in the car and some drama of their own!

There were lots of cars at La Santa due to the athletes heading for the various race briefings. Several cars, including ours, parked on the side of the road. This narrowed the road somewhat and many people did not realise that coaches would also require to come down this road! The support crew observed late comers stressing about being late to the briefing and trying to squeeze cars into the tiniest of places. One car squeezed into a gap that was too small and hit another car. This involved lots of shouting and pictures being taken! Then Ian had the biggest dilemma…the road had become so narrow that cars could not pass each other. Cars were coming from both directions until there was a bit of a pile up…about 15 cars were coming from one direction and 3 cars were trying to go against the flow. This caused tempers to flare and a Spanish man to get out of his car and reach through the window of the car coming in the opposite direction and proceed to try to strangle the driver, whilst also trying to jab him in the face / chest. Poor Ian, who had gone down the road to try to be helpful and assist with the flow of traffic, then found himself in the midst of the drama and trying to separate the scuffle! His 85 day streak on duo lingo would have come in helpful here, had it not been in Italian!!! Following a flurry of blows and Ian’s intervention with random Italian words the Spanish driver was finally convinced to pull over to the right to allow the 3 cars to reverse back so that the traffic could start flowing again. Ian did feel slightly relieved when he spotted the local police had arrived and he pointed this out to the angry Spanish men! Luckily they understood his Italian and the traffic began to flow again! All this and I was only gone for 45 minutes!

I get back (via another toilet stop. All this hydrating, now makes me need to pee about every 10 minutes!) and we get going! Clearly leaving the support crew unattended is not wise! We head a bit further along the IM bike route before dropping back down to Puerto Del Carmen. I am impressed at my island knowledge…I have required no map for today’s adventure, I am practically like a local!! We stop off at Lidl for supplies on our way back. Mark offers to cook dinner of spag bol and garlic bread – a top carb loading dinner! My support crew are so good to think of me like this! Yum! Lisa has a slight panic at the lack of a shopping list, whilst me and Ian skip around the supermarket like children adding random items to the trolley along with helpful items of ingredients for dinner! I then gleefully spot that there is a toilet in Lidl and skip off to empty out some fruit juice from my bladder so that I can drink more. It’s clearly not wise for me to be too far from a toilet for the next couple of days! Shopping completed (except for rice pudding which Lidl does not appear to stcok) and impressively packed by Lisa and Mark – they have clearly practiced this skill and make a great tag team! Ian tries to join in but I stand back…I will just confuse the efficient packing team if I attempt to help too! We then load the car and head down the road to top up the car with fuel. I note a spar next door to the petrol station so I run over and manage to get rice pudding!! This will help the carb loading!! Woohoo!!

We head back to the apartment and unload the shopping, I then head back off around the one-way system to find somewhere to park the car. By the time I get back, I need yet another wee! I am doing well on my fruit juice drinking along with my bottle of squash! I head down to the pool to laze in the late afternoon sun and to become a fruit juice drinking champion! 1.5 litres consumed and 300 weeks later, I am victorious!! Mark starts to cook dinner and it smells amazing! The spag and bol fully on the go! He then starts on the garlic bread and it turns out the kitchen can’t cope! The electrics keep tripping!! He battles through, in true Ironman style! This team will not be defeated today!! Ian also has a battle to try to open the bottle of red wine but he is also victorious! We are a true team of winners!

Until tomorrow when it will be 1 day to race day!! *insert scared face here!!!